Do you believe in life after death? - If you post ...

We should.

I lost my husband two years ago and the grieve and loss is quite bad still so I guess I want to believe and say yes. My best friend has just lost her husband and she is convinced he is still around. She spends a lot of time talking about it and wants to visit a spiritualist but I am not sure I want to. I dream about my husband all the time and odd things do happen. My baby grand son who was only a year when he died waves to him and talks to grumps all the time. but hand on heart I just don't know what I think or believe I know he lives on in my head and heart.

What a fascinating thread! I believe in reincarnation, so my answer is yes. My granddaughter used to see her late grandfather and late great grandmother. She once (aged about 4) asked my daughter if she missed her dad. "Of course, yes" "I don't know why - he's standing behind you."

I totally agree Imperfect27, a local teenager, Jasmine Clarkson age 14, hung herself a few years ago in town. I was so upset she missed school donned black clothes & sat on a bench crying beforehand. No-one spoke to her & she hung herself. I was so upset though I never met her cos I was a youth worker & thought I could have saved her had I been in the right place. I was upset for a while then I smelt a beautiful smell, I wondered what it was & a voice came to me, 'whats my name?' she said, cheekily, then I realised Jasmine. She told me she was ok, but wouldn't speak to me again cos I'm not really related to her & never met her but she wanted to put my mind at rest. Since then I always advocate for speaking to people who seem upset. The whole town was sad about that, teenagers were crying & buying flowers for her. One girl in tescos didn't have enough money so someone topped up for her. I do think its harder to hear these messages when busy etc. it does help to be still, quiet & open to these things which may be why some people don't hear.

pinkjj I am so sorry for your loss. Two years on is still 'early' and you are bound to still feel raw at times. As time goes by we tend to lose support as other people assume we must be 'getting better' or are 'over it' by now. I hope you have support from people who realise it can still be tough for you. x

I have steered clear of the very idea of going to a medium. My sister-in-law went after my DD died and apparently received a message from my daughter for me, but I said I had no interest in hearing it ... nor did my ex-husband. MY Ex had been driving when the crash occurred and I know my sister-in-law was very deeply distressed on his behalf and wanting to find ways to alleviate his pain.

My view was that I had no 'issues' or 'unfinished angst' with my child ... she was a beautiful, healthy, happy girl and I want her to 'rest in peace' - whatever that may mean! I didn't want to dabble / disturb what should be left alone and felt no need to. And besides - I reasoned that if she had anything left to say to me she would make it known directly as we were very close .

Some people do seem to have some sort of genuine psychic power, I don't discount that. BUT I think some people are easily exploited because they are very vulnerable and searching for signs to comfort them.

My husband died on 6th June this year. He didn't believe in any afterlife - I heard from him last week (via a medium) he threw his head back and laughed out loud and told me that he had 'landed safely' and what a wonderful surprise! He was with my Dad who was helping him to adjust. He described his funeral in detail, and told me other personal details nobody could possibly know. I have never met this medium before and she lives 20 miles distance. It was a joy to know he was safely home and I will see him one day. In the meantime he is with me around the house - I still cry because we adored each other and we didn't want to part but I am heartened to know he is around me. There is so much more to life than we can possibly know from our earthly standpoint - and I'm no churchgoer.

Yes I am absolutely convinced that there IS life after death. I have been a Christian for 30+ years now and know what it is like to live life not believing and life knowing God and I know which life I would rather live now. For me it's not been just about feeling (although there is nothing like the peacefulness even in the middle of tough times that I have experienced and believe me I have been through some real toughies as I am sure everyone of you have. From illness, bereavement and the everyday strife that comes from being in a family) BUT it has for me also been about logic. I like to make my own mind up about things and to find out facts and so I decided I would read the bible and having done that the logic, the facts, the evidence is overwhelming and makes sense. So ladies (and gents - sorry) I can say hand on heart after 30+ years I can honestly say YES I am convinced there IS life after death and I for one am looking forward to it

Never mind resting in peace! There are things to be done and my husband has the most beautiful vegetable patch you could ever imagine - that was his passion. You cannot die, you carry on and meet again all your loved ones who have gone before. And you do all the things you love as well as help others when you are ready.

Disgruntled, I love that

Yes, I do believe in a life after death, and I agree with all of you who say that we cannot know what it is like.
However, it is only a belief, grounded in my personal religious convictions, so I may well be wrong - no one knows.

I think most of us have had experiences that could lead us to believe that there is some existence after death, but a lot of these experiences can be explained in other ways too. Mine certainly can.

I came home from abroad to visit my sister, for what I had good reason to think would be the last time, as she was dying of brain cancer. Arriving at the hospital, I needed a minute or two to collect myself before going to her ward, as my nieces had warned me that she wasn't always willing to admit that she did know she was dying.

Wanting to be alone, I went into the Ladies' and while washing my hands I distinctly felt my mother standing behind me. As she died 13 years before that day, and as she and my sister had never, after we grew up been on the best of terms, I was considerably surprised.

Obviously this could well just have been my imagination, or my need to have mummy to make everything all right - although I knew full well she could not do so, but I chose to understand it as a sign that my sister would not have to go out of the world on her own. Although I still feel my sister would probably have wanted Daddy rather than Mummy as her escort!

On the night before our father died, my sister woke at four in the morning to see our grandfather standing at the end of her bed - he had died when she was 10. She was puzzled why he had "come" to her - I could only think he perhaps felt the need to drop in on his way to collect his son.

Again, it could just be imagination, but does it really matter whether it was or was a "real experience" if it consoles us at a difficult time?

Imperfect27 Thank you for that. I am sorry for your loss losing a child must be unbearable. You have confirmed my feelings on a medium so thank you again. Emelle19 love and hugs to you.

As I have said, I do believe there is something after death however I don't believe in mediums who claim to speak to "the other side". They use a technique called "cold reading" and are basically just skilled at reading body language, have some knowledge of human nature and probablity statistics. They also ask questions which appear unrelated but which gives them clues as to the way a person is thinking and what they are looking for in a "reading". I accept there are some who truly believe they have a psychic gift but they are just unknowingly skilled at cold reading.

Emelle I like the thought that Evelyn was met by family - she was the youngest and had not had to attend a family funeral herself so would not have known anyone who passed before her if she was met ...

I heard that welcoming shout of 'Nanny' - her voice, her call, on the day my mum died and it has given me a great sense of affirmation about life after death.

As a fully paid up practising Christian for over 30 years, we were taught not to have anything to do with mediums ... there is a biblical reference about it ... but then the bible also talks about keeping slaves as a norm and eating rock badger so I don't go with any literal interpretations .

Scientifically ..someone pointed out to me that if you boil water, it doesn't just disappear .. it turns to steam and evaporates, but it is still out there - just in a transformed state ...

imperfect 're the steam metaphor, I've had similar explained to me but think of a tightly stretched rubber band that you pull at - it vibrates until you can no longer see it but it is still there.

We've had similar threads on this subject in the past and I think I have posted this - my personal "weird" experience: in the days after my mother died, I was woken by the sound of my daughter sobbing in her room at something like 5 a.m. in the morning, all was quiet in the house but for the sobbing. My daughter was about 13. I rushed to her room and she said that she had seen my mother as if in a vivid dream, through a window, in a garden. She described my mother (knew it was her) but as a young woman (so not as she would ever have known her gran). The "dream" or vision was so real to my daughter that she found herself throwing the window open wide so as to talk to or touch her grandmother, and (in the dream or vision) my mother moved towards her but as their hands touched, my daughter "woke up". Whatever had gone on there, it left my daughter in a deeply emotional state, but she was not scared or upset, just deeply affected. Just to add she was very close to her grandmother. My daughter is a not religious and a very grounded person but if this subject ever comes up in conversation she will usually just quietly say "I know there is life after death".

Grannyknot, thank you for sharing that. When my eldest brother was very little - about two and a half - he woke my mother with his crying one night. When asked what the matter was he said ' Don't put nanny in the sheet.' They learned the next morning that my great grandmother had died. When my nanny died, my cousin, who was four, told us 'Nanny is in the garden, but she can't come in.'

I know it seems weird but I believe that in some way we are reincarnated. I don't believe that every human being is completely unique and there wouldn't be enough room in the universe for all the souls so I'm sure people would have to be reused as it were. Am I crazy!

No, not crazy ... there is enough out there to make us wonder ...

I was receiving healing for sciatica from a lady who had recently retired and moved to Wales, she was also a medium. As she was giving me healing she said - ' you came only for healing but will you accept two gifts I am being pressed to give you?' I agreed , she said 'I have two little girls asking me to give their Mummy two roses, they are aged about five, they said Daddy gives her red roses, we are giving gold ones, ask her not to cry anymore,we are with her Granny Mary' My two babies who died at birth would have been five and six if they had lived , my grandmother Mary died giving birth to my mother.

Jesus said 'Blessed are they who have not seen yet still believe.'
I think that such are truly blessed, where else would we find such joy and consolation. Some folk say it is just the brain trying to escape reality and make sense of the incomprehensible and these folk wish us joy in our beliefs.
I thank them for that and pray that they may the same understanding.

It gives me a lot of comfort to believe that there is life beyond this world. It gladdens me to think that I will one day meet again with my dad and those beloved that have gone before. I cannot think that there is nothing but the forever sleep.

A few weeks ago it was Fathers Day - my 4 year old grandson asked if I was sending a card to my father
No I said
Why not?
Because he lives a long way away
Has he died I was asked
Yes I said
Will you be 'phoning him up?

Does that mean BT knows something that the rest of us have doubts about

I don't believe in a life after death. However , I do believe that each of us leave something of ourselves behind. Certainly in our genes if we have children. We also leave the things we have taught others and we all touch someone else's life . They on turn pass these things on.

Anniebach

Thank you Imperfect27 for starting this interesting thread and to everyone for sharing some very emotional feelings. I believe we 'live' on after death but in an altered state. For me, there are so many recorded sightings and hearings of those who have died that I cannot dismiss it all as imagination.

I do not though believe in the religious heaven or hell theories of Christianity. I believe life after death and religion are two different subjects but would never deny the comfort they each can give to those who grieve.

I don't know if there's life after death. None of us does for certain. I don't believe in it. I think the dreams we sometimes have, after the death of someone close, are just that. The brain tries to make sense of what's happened. After all, if it's possible for a person who died recently to come to someone in a dream and tell them their dead relative is OK, why didn't the dead relative come much sooner to comfort them with that reassurance?

After my husband died, I had some upsetting dreams about him. In one, he was half dressed and asking me if a certain tie went well with a particular shirt. This was something he often did in life and usually without trousers! The upsetting aspect for me was that I knew he had died but he didn't know. I didn't know how to tell him.

After nine years, I still very nearly, almost call my son by my late husband's name and I certainly remember him most days. We were married for thirty three years, after all. I often say to myself, Keith would've laughed at that, or to my children, your dad would've.... This is how people live on, in our memories.

Anniebach - Your message literally brought me to tears, it was so moving and poignant and I totally relate to all the wonderful posts on this site today.
After losing my precious mother some 6 years ago, I eventually took the brave step of visiting a highly thought of medium. What she told me totally knocked me sideways, the accuracy of information passed on from my late father, so much detail so very personal which this lady could never have known. I came away with a lovely warm feeling that my parents were indeed reunited, and that I would one day see them again. There is so much we cannot ever understand, just have faith and take comfort.